Strange file type shown

I have a friend who has .odt documents in Mydocuments folder which suddenly appear without the extension but show the file type as "file". He can open these files with Openoffice, but cannot attach them, or print them. The also have a small icon at the left as a small rectangle with small red and bleu dots. If the text is highlighted and copied, then pasted into a new blank openoffice and saved as type openoffice, that new file also comes up with no extension, and displays as type "file" with the same problems - no attach or unprintable. I have never heard of this problem before!

 

have you run any scans with your antivirus and malwarebytes free?

anytime a pc does something suddenly without your knowledge it usually means an infection.

other possibilities, was there a program update?

can you run a repair of your open office program?

.file is a generic file extension.

 

These files do not have any extension, just the file name, but they have the FILE TYPE shown as "file". Also what does the icon with the red and blue dots mean?

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=ico...UFPCYKHd39DZgQsAQIJQ&biw=1143&bih=682&dpr=0.9

could you look at the images above and see if the icon is there and let me know which one it is or attach an image so I can see what the icon looks like, please.

 

I will visit my friend and take a pic off his screen to send to you!
Many thanks

 

okay will check back

 

I enclose a shot from his My Docs folder showing the funny icons and file type "File"

 

that is a windows icon and it is a generic icon for when windows does not know the extension, right click on a document and choose Open With then choose browse and find your office program and choose this to open this file and on the bottom of the page there is a checkbox to choose this program for All of these type files make sure to place a check in the box.